This is the main reason for my trip to Koh Tao: getting my scuba diving certification. I have shopped online to find the available schools on the island as well as the best deals and ratings with either SSI or PADI. My choices ended up being Crystal Diving and Big Blue Diving. Both schools offer the courses, the full equipment necessary and accommodation on dive days. There is a possibility to upgrade the accommodation if extras are preferred.

I already knew that I wanted both the open water and advanced certification therefore I chose Big Blue over Crystal for its better online deal. If it wasn't for that, I'd surely go with Crystal since they offer PADI certification and is the top rated school on the island. To be honest from what I've heard, the open water and advanced courses are pretty much the same between PADI and SSI. I intend on getting certified as a PADI Divemaster once I meet the requirements, but for now let's simply enjoy scuba diving and get some experience!

I'm very satisfied with my SSI learning and definitely would recommend it to anyone if they are into this kind of activity. The sea is such an intriguing and beautiful place to explore underwater. Koh Tao definitely has stunning dive sites to be discovered!